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This appears to be the perfect mismatch on paper. a
potent and accomplished Australian team taking on a West Indies team that will
have at least three rookies and just five players with prior national team
experience. That is probably how it will end up as well, but that doesn’t mean
there won’t be any interesting moments along the road.
With David Warner’s retirement, a new era has begun
for Australia. The process of replacing him took an unexpected turn when Steven
Smith, the final person on the list, was selected for the position.
Cameron Green’s return to the starting lineup at No. 4
is a result, but other than that, things remain the same for the home team.
So to West Indies. Due to a variety of scheduling
anomalies in the game, this group differs greatly from the one who toured
Australia a little over a year ago. As a result, they are returning for two
summers in a row. Under the leadership of captain Kraigg Brathwaite and
Tagenarine Chanderpaul, they exhibited some resilient batting resistance during
the previous tour to Perth; however, they were easily defeated in Adelaide,
taking just 19 of a potential 40 wickets in the two matches.
With backing from new vice captain Alzarri Joseph,
Kemar Roach, who notoriously roughed up Ricky Ponting in 2009, will need to
make far more of an impression than his past average of 90.62 reveals in
Australia. With the adjustments, they will at least have to target an
Australian top order, which will be scrutinised.
The new addition to the West Indies team that has
generated the most buzz and attention is quick bowler Shamar Joseph. Joseph
made an impression during the A tour of South Africa last year and looked good
in the warm-up match against the Cricket Australia XI. He, along with many
others, sees this tour as an opportunity to establish their reputation.
Australia’s next big thing has long been predicted to
be Cameron Green, and during his debut Test match, he appeared to confirm that
prediction. However, he now needs to re-establish himself due to a number of
circumstances, including getting used to switching between formats rapidly, a
small injury that kept him out of the Headingley Test during the Ashes, and
Mitchell Marsh’s following excellent play. No. 4 is seen as his permanent home,
albeit it was most likely intended to be a batting order shift, rather than
something Smith would accomplish through retirement. The extent to which Pat
Cummins employs him with the ball will also be intriguing to watch.
During the Australian tour of the previous season,
Tagenarine Chanderpaul made a promising start to his Test career, scoring a
half-century on his debut and two fortys later. He got a double-century against
Zimbabwe in the next game, but his struggles against South Africa and India
have been more difficult. He will be essential in mitigating Australia’s potent
attack alongside his captain and allowing the inexperienced middle order some
time to settle in.